AKI (昭)
AKIFUKU (昭福), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Tochigi – “Akifuku” (昭福), family name Sunaga (須永)
AKIFUSA (昭房), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Chiba – “Awa no Kuni Akifusa” (安房国昭房), “Bōshū Tateyama-jū
Akifusa” (房州館山住昭房), real name Ishii Shōji (石井昌次), born 1909, in 1934, he started an apprenticeship in the
Nihontō Tanren Denshūjo (日本刀鍛錬伝習所) under Kurihara Akihide (栗原昭秀) in Tōkyō and worked there as
instructor from 1937 onwards, in 1939 he forged several swords in commemoration of the 700 th anniversary of Emperor
Gotoba´s (後鳥羽) death, 1957 he was designated as an intangible cultural property of his hometown Tateyama (館山)
and in 1962 (others say in 1963) as an intangible cultural property of Chiba Prefecture
AKIFUSA (昭房), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu → KANEFUSA (兼房), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989)
AKIHIDE (昭秀), Kyōwa (享和, 1801-1804), Dewa – “Suiseishi Akihide” (水生子昭秀), “Dewa no Kuni-jūnin
Akihide” (出羽国住人昭秀), real name Takahashi Eisuke (高橋栄助), he lived in Shōnai (庄内) in Dewa province,
student of Suishinshi Masahide (水心子正秀), we know blades from Kyōwa to Bunsei (文政, 1818-1830), ko-itame, gunomemidare, some sources list him by mistake as Teruhide (照秀)
AKIHIDE (昭秀), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Tōkyō – “Kurihara Akihide kore o kinsaku” (栗原昭秀謹作之),
“Shimotsuke no Kuni-jūnin Kurihara Hikosaburō Akihide saku” (下野国住人栗原彦三郎昭秀作), “Tekka Nyūdō
Akihide saku” (鉄火入道昭秀作), “Kun-yontō Akihide saku” (勲四等昭秀作, “Akihide, bearer of the Order of Merit
fourth class”), real name Kurihara Hikosaburō (栗原彦三郎), born on the eighth day of the second month Meiji twelve
(1879) in Sano (佐野) in Tochigi Prefecture, there he studied under the local smith Inagaki Saijirō Masanori (将応), later
he became also an apprentice of Horii Taneaki (堀井胤明), he was a member of the Lower House of Tochigi Prefecture
and opened on July 5th 1933 in Tōkyō´s Akasaka-Hikawashita (赤坂氷川下) the famous training site Nihontō Tanren
Denshūjo (日本刀鍛錬伝習所) which gave rise to many of the later leading modern smiths, he died on May 5 th 1954 at
the age of 76, gō Tekka (鉄火)
AKIHIRA (昭平) Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Nōshū Kamei Akihira saku” (濃州亀井昭平作), “Nōshū-jū
Akihira” (濃州住昭平), real name Kamei Shōhei (亀井昭平), born May 21st 1927, he studied under Kanenobu (兼延)
AKIHIRA (昭平) Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Nagano → YUKIHIRA (行平), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989)
AKIHIRO (昭広), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Tōkyō – “Tokiwamatsu Yoshihara Akihide kore o saku” (常盤松吉原
昭広作之), “Yoshihara Akihiro” (吉原昭広), family name Yoshihara (吉原), he studied under Kasama Shigetsugu
(笠間繁継)
AKIHISA (昭久), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Niigata – “Hokuetsu-jū Yamagami Senri Akihisa” (北越住山上千里昭久),
“Akihisa” (昭久), real name Yamagami Jūji (山上重次), born 1910, he studied under Kasaka Ikkansai Shigetsugu
(笠間一貫斎繁継), he became independent in 1934 and lived in Nishiyama-chō (西山町) in Niigata Prefecture, he
worked as a rikugun-jumei-tōshō
AKIKANE (昭兼) Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu → MITSUKANE (光兼), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu
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